Links
Alaska fishermen circle their boats to fight mine
It is an unfortunate coincidence of geography that this lush region of wild rivers, grassy tundra and windy sea is home to two competing treasures of almost unimaginable value: the world's largest sockeye salmon run, supporting a fishery worth $440 million a year; and in the hills behind it, a massive deposit of copper, molybdemum and gold worth at least $300 billion.
With that much money at stake, preventing the construction of what could be the largest open-pit mine in North America–at headwaters above Bristol Bay–seems an impossible task.
As Pebble Ltd. Partnership prepares to submit its permit application outlining what kind of mine it wants to build by late this year or early next, Bristol Bay fishermen are fighting a fierce advance assault, hoping to convince government decision-makers and the public that poisonous mine drainage and some of the world's last pristine salmon streams are a combination too risky to contemplate.